


Time Out

by Mustachebabs



Series: Timely Matters [5]
Category: New World Magischola (Live-Action Roleplaying Game)
Genre: Gen, NWM Second Semester, NWM5, There was definitely more people in that room
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-30
Updated: 2017-06-30
Packaged: 2019-05-19 00:00:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14862810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mustachebabs/pseuds/Mustachebabs
Summary: Ripping yourself from timelines hurts, just a heads up.





	Time Out

The problem with being affected by time magic, is that sometimes you don’t even know when it’s happening. Most of the time, it is obvious enough: This was not the place you had just been in, this place MAY look familiar but some things are  _unequivocally_  different. For Ari, her watch ticking was usually a good giveaway, but what happens when time is affecting you directly and not your surroundings? How was Ari supposed to know that she was following the steps of a different timeline version of herself?

Our life is ours, so the decisions we make are made by us. Or so we think. Why would she have doubted herself and her choices? She lived her life the way she wanted, no matter what Jae and Tristan had to say about it. What did either of them know about power? Or what a stronger array of spells and energies could afford to a Marshal-to-be? It’s not until the semester starts again, until the tempus magic study group starts their meetings that… Something clicks. For the first time, while within the time ritual circle, Ari feels  _doubt_.

Something wasn’t right.

After summoning the slagerod, later that same night alone in her room, she paces. Tristan was probably on hospitality duty for Casa Calisayla, which gave Ari some time. But time for what? The whispers at the back of her head – the slagerod – tells her there’s enough time to  _wreck havoc_. She manages to quelch that idea, forces her hand to hold a pen instead. She closes her eyes as hard as she can.

Something wasn’t right and Ari was honestly unsure if there was anything  _she_  could do about it.

The note left on her desk reads, TRISTAN DO NOT TOUCH. Ari manages to go to sleep right after, but the slagerod’s pull is magnetic and she doesn’t get much rest at all. She cannot leave it behind, brings it along to classes the next morning. Even when Savia borrows it, Ari can feel it calling.

It’s not until the afternoon, when they all convene at the Dan Obeah common room and she steps into the ritual circle Bea and Aven have prepared, that Ari feels that same creeping doubt again. Jae is next to her, both of them holding the grounding stones that would aid to disconnect them permanently from the time traveling slagerod.

They manage to re-tune the slagerod’s energy and it frees all those that had been in its presence originally. Still within the circle and even without the slagerod pulling her in, everything around Ari feels muffled. Jae demands she comes clean, takes a hold of Ari’s arm and rips off the bandage on it. Part of Ari takes a moment to remember how the mark had gotten there.

Something wasn’t right with  _her_.

Jae is gone, but the rest of the group is standing over Ari. She gives them as much answers as she knows, unsure if this is the first time  _she_  hears these facts too. Time plays funny tricks to memory. A decision is made and now everyone is closer, having kneeled down around her.

Ari is doing her best to contain her self  _within_  herself.

The ritual begins and there’s a pull. Different than the slagerod’s, this one pulls at her core as if it’s being split in two. She can hear the group and even her own screams, but everything sounds like it’s underwater.

_“Ari is just…” “Ari is kind…” “Ari is a friend…”_

Everyone is taking turns and the room is spinning around Ari. She shuts her eyes and now she’s standing in front of herself, it is herself but not the same as her. There’s blood on that version’s hands. The group’s voices still reach this space, echo around them as the other Ari smirks at her.

_“Ari is **not**  cruel…” “Ari is  **not** a gorecaster…” “Ari is  **not** a killer…”_

Then she’s pulled back to herself, the correct timeline version of her. Ari’s eyes open, the room is still spinning a bit. There’s a burning at her arm and she sees as the gorecaster mark fades as if dissolving into dust, sent back to its original owner. Her gasps for air feel like the first breaths she’s taken in a long time.

Another small problem with time magic, is that no matter how one changed the course of things, there would always be amends to make.


End file.
